As the battle for the Jockeys’ Championship continues to heat up, leading rider Anthony Thomas rode three winners yesterday to confirm his standing as the man to catch for the coveted title at Caymanas Park.

Thomas’s winners included the Errol Waugh-conditioned Sparkle Diamond, who won the top-rated Overnight Allowance event over five-and-a-half furlongs (1,100m). Thomas’ other winners were Formal Gladiator in the third race and Sharp Skirt in the fourth race, both for trainer Ryan Darby.

Sparkle Diamond broke into second place at the off behind Trevor’s Choice (Linton Steadman) but was taken off the headline by Thomas approaching the half-mile (800m) when Mr Universe (Oshane Nugent) and Sea Swan (Aaron Chatrie) took over. Thomas positioned Sparkle Diamond well in deep stretch between horses to take up the running, but then had to withstand the late charge from Chace The Great (Kiaman McGregor) to win by three parts of a length in a blistering and career-best time of 1:04.4 minutes for the distance.

Starting the day four winners in front, Thomas pushed his lead to five wins ahead of Dane Nelson, who won two races. Nelson won aboard Lazer Light for trainer Roy Matthews in the second race and Excessive Force for trainer Philip Feanny in the ninth and final event.

Thomas leads with 84 winners to Nelson’s 79 winners with four race days to go.

Meanwhile, Anthony Nunes also extend his lead over Wayne DaCosta in the trainers’ race when he swept the first three places in the $980,000 Dye Job Sprint feature over six furlongs. Nunes’ Hoist The Mast (Omar Walker) won ahead of Go Deh Girl (Dane Nelson) and Calculus (Oshane Nunes) by 3 ¾ lengths in a time of 1:12.2 minutes. Walker had earlier won aboard Gypsy Jam for trainer Richard Azan for a double.

Racing continues on Saturday.